This invention relates to natural beverage powders produced from dahlia tuber extracts and the uses of these natural beverage powders to make flavorsome beverages.
In the past, natural beverage powders have been produced from roasted seeds such as the coffee berry, wheat, rye and barley. The roasted leaves or roots of some plants or their extracts can also be made into powders which will produce good tasting beverages. The latter materials would include dried tea leaves and the roasted roots of the chicory and dandelion plants. The sugars present in the above seeds and roots appear to be one of the prime sources of flavor development on roasting. Several hypotheses have been presented for the development of flavor:
(a) the interaction of the sugars with the basic groups of the protein or protein hydrolysate,
(b) the degradation of sugars (eg. the carmelization of sucrose, glucose or fructose),
(c) the liberation of esters, ketones, acids, aldehydes and basic material which are flavor bodies themselves,
(d) the interaction of all of the above to produce flavorable materials.
In addition to the above there are flavor and aroma materials present in parts of many raw plants such as those present in tea leaves. However, for most roasted seeds and roots only minor flavor bodies are produced, many times aromas and flavors objectional to the human taste are developed.